Safety coupon book



Feb.@1g 1924. 1,483,313

A. RICH K i SAFETY COUPON BOOK Filed Aug. 30. 1920 Patented Feb.. l2,1924.

@METEO STATES g 1,483,313 PATENT oFFlcE.

ABE RICH, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA,.ASSIGNOR TO SOUTHERN COUPON COMPANY,A. CORPORATION 0F ALABAM SAFETY COUPON BOOK.

Application filed August 30, 1920. Serialv No. 408,758.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Ann RICH, a citizen of the United States of America,residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama,have invented certain new 'and useful Improvements in Safety CouponBooks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a coupon book which is provided with means toprevent, without detection, the removal of coupons before the book isdelivered to the customer.

Coupon books as now generally manufacturedv comprise a series of couponsheets which, together with a detachable receipt stub, are bound at oneend between front and back cover pages. In practice the coupon books aredelivered by the agents or clerks to the party purchasing the couponbooks and the receipt st-ub is signed and torn out and returned to theoiice for checking purposes. All users of coupon books have for manyyears been subjected to complaints from their customers on the groundthat coupon books delivered to them are short a number of coupons and ithas become generally recognized in this art that the use of coupon booksare subject to serious objection by reason of the detachment of couponsprior to delivery of the book which isvoverlooked by the customer yatthe time of the purchase of the book. Various expedients have beenattempted to prevent this fraudulent practice, but,y when it is borne inmind that'the low cost at which the coupon books are sold will notpermit an appreciable increase in cost for obtaining this protection,the diiculty of solving the problem is at once apparent. After patientinvestivation of many forms and ideas, applicant has at last produced acoupon book, the cost of which is not appreciable over that of theordinary coupon book and which effectively safeguards the customeragainst the surreptitious detachment of coupons before the delivery ofthe book and which yet permits the agent delivering the book to removethe receipt stub without disturbing the vmeans which protect the book.

Moreover, the protective measures employed are of such character as tocause the customer no appreciable inconvenience in removing them priorto the extraction of coupons and yet it is practically impossible toremove and reapply the protective measures without noticeably defacingthe coupon book and thus warning the customer.

y invention in its preferred embodiments will be best understood byreference to the accompanyingdrawings which form a part ofthisspeciication, and in which Fig. l shows in plan view a coupon bookwith my protective measures applied.

Fig. 2 is a detail view similar to Fig. il, except that I here show acenter stitch binding the leaves, and I show the stub endof the bookpartially torn, which must be done by the customer prior to use with it.

Fig. 3 illustrates my protective measures applied to another type ofcoupon book in current use.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout thedrawings.

I show a coupon book consisting of a series of sheets l which f aretransversely subdivided by perforations at 2 to form individual coupons.Each coupon sheet is provided with a stub extension 3 at both ends andthese extensions are separated by a line of perforations from theadjacent coupons. The stubs at both ends are bound together between aback cover 4 and a front cover`5 by suitable stitching 6, and are thencovered by binding strips 7 and 8 of gummed paper, preferably of a classof paper commonly known in the trade as kraft paper which is notgenerally obtainable by the casual user and which `when once appliedcannot be steamed oil and reapplied without distortion or defacementwhich serves as a warning that the book has been tampered with. Thebinding strips lap over and protect the stitching 6 from access.

In the drawings I have shown the binding strips as formed of kraft paperhaving a peculiar arrangement of lettering 9 printed thereon ofnon-permanent ink which will run when exposed to moisture. The strip isformed by cutting a sheet, the surface of which is printed closely withvertical columns of distinguishing data, into diagonal strips whichintersect the rows at an angle so that the lettering is presented in apeculiar manner most difiicult to reproduce casually, and the same typeof binding strip is preferably used at both ends of the coupon book. Thefront and back covers are provided .withk lines of perforations 10 in mewith the perforations in the coupon According to my invention asillustrated,

perforations l0 so stub adjacent to the binding strip 8. A receipt 11 isalso pre'l'erably bound in at the back oi the book and this sheet, aswill be seen in Fig. 2, stops short of the line of that its right 'handend is left unbound. rl`he purpose oithis arrangement is to permit theclerk or agent to tear out the receipt leaf 1l without 'breaking the endastenings and in this way the customer receives the book atter'thedetachment oi' the vreceipt with the protective measures undisturbed.`lWhen the customer desires to use the book, it is only necessary tograsp the right hand end of the bookand tear both iront and back coversand the coupon stubs 3 along the lines of perforations 10, as is seeninFig. 2. n

lf desired an additional protective measure may be employed consistingof a central stitch l2 Jformed ot a rangible metal which will break ifit is attempted to take it out and replace it. n I t f `In Fig. 3 lshowthe same idea applied to a modified type of coupon bookv comprisinga ystub 13 and a seriesof coupons 14 which are Jfolded back under thestub and both the stub and the end coupon are provided'with tabs l5beyond the lines of perforations'V 16, which tabs are bound together bystitching 17 protected by a gummed binding strip 8 as in Figli.

Having produced the protected coupon book in vthe manner described, ifthe agent of" the issuing person or company attempts to removeacouponsheet it cannot be done because if it-'be attemptedy to removethegummed strips 7 8 Ithe latter willbecome so deifaced and the ink willrunso that it will be most apparent that the bookhas been tampered with.It the protecting ystrips 7 and 8 are removed they cannoty be replacedexcept at almost prohibitive expense in view of the dilicultyinobtaining the gummed paper inthe iirst place, and secondly theimpracticability of producing except at considerable cost thedistinctively marked strip, because, yof its diagonal arrangement ofprinted matter thereon.

lt should be borne in mind that the problem here to be dealt with ispetty thievery andthe 'full "object of the invention is obtained ifitbecomes impractical ,for the casual agentto detach coupons withoutdetection for, if one caredk to go tosuiiicient expense in the matter,they couldA reproduce the "coupons them/selves, but inasmuch as thecoupons are of small denominations 'and yare notwidely negotiablethisrarely occurs. When a book is sold, if it has not the center stitch 12the agent can Vspread it open, tear out the receipt l1,`havel it signedand deliver the couponbook, or, asisthe niet@ eel-eifel practise, the@Omray on issuing .the books to the` p agent ,canremove these receiptsand hold; tirera-las a checkg on ,the

agent and still deliver to the customer books that have absolutely notbeen tampered with. Vilh'ere the center stitching is used the receiptcan only be drawn out after the book has been deliveredto the `customerand he has torn away the end bound by the strip 8, by tearing the samealong the perforated line 10, after which the stitching 12 can bereadilyl broken loose and the receipt removed and returned'to the agent.

ln Fig. 3 the single coupon sheet is bound so that a coupon cannot bedetached from the end of the sheet. Thisoften occurs, the sheet kbeingfolded back between the second and third coupons and the two end couponsremoved. v With applicants protective binding` the customer is assuredoi receiving the full number of coupons and when the book is to be usedhe tears away the tabs 15, thereby unbinding the folded coupon sheet so`that the coupons may be detached.

lt is to be noted that all or' the protecting arrangements are of suchcharacter as to be applied by the customary machinery and the Aequipmentavailable at manufacturing plants engaged in the production of couponbooksand that the additional `cost of the' protective measures, appliedis negligible. y

lt will be understood that my invention canbe variously modified withoutdeparture from thexnovel principles underlying it, and being the rfirstto produce a protected coupon book, lclaim lall such modifications andchanges as come within the general scope of myinvention.

Having thus describedmy invention, what I claim as newand desire ltosecure by Letters Patent, is l f ,1. A coupon book composed `of sheetsdivided byv transverse lines of perforations into end tabs andinterposed suitably printed coupons, and means to provide a detachableprotective binding Jor the end tabs comprising stitching` and a gummedbinding strip of paper applied over the-stitching on both sides of thebook and ot such character as to be defaced by the application ofmoisture, the stitched and bound tabs and covers being adapted to betorn from the book along registering lines of perforations in the sheetsto expose the coupons for detachment.

2. A. coupon book composed of aligned covers and sheets, said sheetsbeing divided by transverse lines o periforations into end tabs andinterposed suitably printed coupons, perforations in the covers coplanarwith the perforations in the sheets, stitching holding said covers and`sheets in alignment, and a protective binding gummed strip defaceable bythefmoisture required to .'ei'ect its removal, whereby the lcouponbookmay bemtorn. alcngthe lines of the perfcrations.

being all mechanically coupon boek et perteratect its coupon sheetshaving tabs at both ends, a receipt sheet Which stops short of the tabsat one end of the book and overlaps the tabs at the other end of thebook, Jfront and back covers substantially of even length With thecoupon sheets, stitching to bind the sheet tabs and covers together atboth ends of the book, a protective gummed rstrip applied over both endsof the book so as to conceal and protect the stitching from beingtampered with, said covers having perforations aligning With theperforations that separate from the coupon sheets the tabs at the freeend of the sheets when the book is in use.

4f. A coupon book free ends of the leaves provided with a Which coversand protects the stitching on both sides of the book and which is ofsuch character as to be defaced by the moisture having the normallystitched together and gummed binding strip required to effect itsremoval, and perforations to permit the bound ends of the leaves andcovers at one end of the book to be readily torn oli'.

5. A coupon book having the normally free ends of the leaves stitchedtogether and provided with a gummed binding strip which covers andprotects the stitching on both sides of the book and which is of suchcharacter as to be defaced by the moisture required to ei'ect itsremoval, and perforations to permit the bound ends of the leaves andcovers vat one end of the book to be readily torn ofi', said book havingbound therein at its other end a receipt which stops short of the saidperforations.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ABE RICH. Witness NoMm WELSH.

